Keeping up with Everything

I am missing a technology conference today: NICE Mini-conference 2010, thanks to some weird virus. I was feeling pretty sad about it, but have begun to find the resources of the presenters on the WWW. Just one presenter had ten web-based resources to use with the students!

How do you keep up with technology? If you're lucky, you have a job that requires you to explore new tools every day. More likely than not, you have to go out of your way to learn new skills. I have been stymied this week by a coworker that implied I shouldn't teach writing with technology MY way because it might conflict with the writing curriculum that we will be using next year. She has been a steady and helpful support for a couple of years now, and a great coworker. I'm sure she sees flaws in my writing instruction that would be corrected with the new curriculum. Yet the pace of technology is relentless. The pace of progress is relentless! New developments in every field are proposed and refuted by research every day. What is one to believe? The reading curriculum that goes with the writing curriculum has been excellent, so I will go with what works. I still wonder if increasing the number of reading interventions at the cost of thematic, multi-disiplinary projects is going to help the overall thinking of the child. "Teach to their strengths" seems to have become 'Test to overcome their weaknesses" and the whole child is forgotten in a pile of test scores and graphs. On the other hand, my instruction begins with assessment. How can you know what to teach unless you know where the student functions. Do you really want to waste valuable school time teaching something they already know or presenting material that is years above the students' abilities?
So where's the balance? I can truthfully say that many of the problems presented by using technology in education are not being solved: how to get teachers to use new methods, how to give students access to technology (especially if they live in poverty), how much to filter, how much time to spend on computers using what software, how to insure equity for all users, how to shift district priorities to insure technology use is encouraged. For me, the balance is in using what you can. Instead of writing your report on Siam, type it in to Kidspiration or a word processor, recite it into Voicethread (filter issues notwithstanding), make a presentation of it. Let the kids play with it and discover what they can make. (That one would not pass the "linked to curriculum" rule in my district.) We don't have time to wait for what is coming next year. Learn what you can, when you can, and pass it on!

In the time it took for me to write this, an email came with information about another type of reading instruction: Renee Seward's Multimedia Program Linking Sounds and Letters: Reading By Design

Halloween

For twenty years, I have bundled up precious cargo, hopped into the car or walked through a neighborhood, and participated in the ancient ritual called Halloween. I have never objected to its horrific side. I just ignore it and enjoy the excitement children exhibit when faced with large amounts of free candy.

The first year I lived on a farm, I bought bags of candy and waited for Trick-or-Treaters to appear, as they had in my suburban hometown. What a letdown! Not one goblin showed up. People on farms have to make appointments or they will pass each other in their cars. There are side benefits, however. Grandmas and neighbors make up for fewer stops by giving large bags of homemade cookies as well as full-size candy bars.

My favorite Halloween was in 1989. I had moved back to my hometown with three children, two hundred dollars and a college education. While looking for a job, I was a substitute teacher in five school districts comprised of more than fifty schools. With traumatized children and anxious parents, I cried every day over the loss of a farm, friends and my previous job. It was hard to get up in the morning, and the days didn’t get any easier.

October 31 came and we went trick-or-treating in Grandma’s neighborhood, where I had grown up. A transformation had occurred in this quiet middle class section of town. Decorations abounded in the yards, including strings of Halloween lights. One neighbor dressed up like a witch and cackled at the children from the top half of a Dutch door as she dropped candy into their bags. The weather was so warm we didn’t even have to wear jackets, and leaves crunched under foot as we walked. Friends walked together and greeted each other as children eagerly ran up to doorbells and gave their personalized rendition of “Trick or Treat.” For the first time since my loss, I had a sense of community. The children had never gotten grocery bags full of candy before. Although they always missed their father on holidays, they were pretty happy with this turn of events.

The weather didn’t always cooperate on Halloween. In 1995, the weather was the worst I can ever remember. In a pouring rain with a wind chill reading of twenty-nine degrees, I let my youngest child (aged 12) talk me into circling two blocks. The following week, she was sick. I am glad I went, however. The following year she preferred a junior high party to trick or treating. Had I known it was my last trip, I would have enjoyed it more.


©Linda Wallin 1997

Poverty

In the last few years, my work in special education has led me to disabled children who live in poverty. While it was a rare occurrence even five or ten years ago, it is now much more common. I can't quote statistics on this, although I hope to do some study on this topic. I can only speak from personal experience. Last year, my class was small and the poverty level was high. I think only one of my students was NOT in poverty (out of five or six). This year, out of nine students, six of them were receiving free lunches. For those of you who don't know, the poverty level was calculated in the 1955 by calculating the yearly cost of food for an adult or child, omitting the purchase of meat, and multiplying by three (Ross, 2009). Thankfully, Congressmen Dodd and McDermitt have introduced legislation to bring the formula more in line with present-day realities.

I must confess I lived below the poverty line for a year when I became a single parent with three children. The lessons I learned have compelled me to speak out about this devastating hardship for children who have no platform to speak. As a parent and as a teacher, I see children who cannot develop their abilities to the fullest because they are held back by lack of day care options, medical options, and grocery limits. I teach children who do not know what to do with a Book Club book because no one has bought them one before. I see children who get excited about technology and can learn math, reading, graphics, writing, storytelling, and simple computer science concepts when they gain access to machines and programs appropriate for their abilities.

Recently Stephen Krashen, who writes about second-language acquisition, wrote about the relationship between poverty and achievement in his newsletter. He objected to the administration focus on higher standards. I concur. Higher standards will not provide better nutrition or more educational experiences for children whose parents may be working one or two jobs apiece. Higher standards will not allow children to spend more after-school time outside because they have adequate supervision. Higher standards will only create more paperwork for an overworked educational sector.

Those who use the phrase "throw money at a problem" are almost always trying to prevent spending. Yet if children come from homes where there are no books, educational toys, educational videos and outdoor activity, where are they going to get them? If they are learning another language in the process, they are under siege cognitively. Without the words to express what they see in the world, their power is limited and their needs ignored. President Obama overcame hardship in his childhood. Let’s hope he has not lost his compassion.

Ross, E. (2009, 10 23). Hutchinson News Online Edition. Retrieved 10 25, 2009, from The Hutchinson News: http://www.hutchnews.com/Todaystop/poverty2009-10-23T20-42-40

Newness

I used to feel grateful for the beginning of a new school year, because it was like a second New Year's Eve. I got a chance to start over and be a better teacher. This year, I'm in a new school, teaching a new class and I thought I was handling it well. By Friday (Aug. 21), I was sick of being new, not knowing people's names, forgetting where kids were supposed to go, trying to work out bussing with different districts. This week, I feel like I have prepared for the schedule and I am waiting to see if everyone actually gets where they are supposed to be when they are supposed to be there. New initiatives have already been introduced, which require after-school training. Parents are waiting to see if they have placed their trust in someone who knows what he/she is doing, and administrators are checking out classrooms to make sure students are engaged and learning. I remember a time fondly when both students and teachers had a few weeks to get into the routine. My mother always said it took us six weeks to get used to our teachers. That was before student performance was tied to teacher performance and everyone wanted a good report card in the newspapers. What is the essential nature of education? The relationship the teacher forms with the students that convinces them they are capable, interesting people who have a valuable role to play in the world.